


Pretty Kinky

by Apetslife



Category: Popslash
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-03
Updated: 2012-02-03
Packaged: 2017-10-30 13:04:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/332014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Apetslife/pseuds/Apetslife
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Wait," Chris said, holding up his hand. "Are you upset because Nick said you were kinky, or because AJ thought you weren't?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pretty Kinky

**A While Ago**

It was clear, looking back, that the beginning of the end for JC and Nick was the phone call. JC had settled into his hotel room in New York after a long day at the training program, turned on Oprah, and called his boyfriend, back home in Maryland.

"Speak."

"Nick, hey!" JC was delighted to hear his voice. He'd mostly gotten voicemail, the last few times he'd called. "How's it going, baby?"

"Hey, JC." The smile in Nick's voice was audible, and JC had always loved how Nick drawled his name, making it an almost tangible caress. "Busy here, man. How's the big city? You wowing 'em?"

"Oh yeah," JC rolled his eyes, glad Nick couldn't see. "I'm the star of the graphic design certificate program. Actually, I fell asleep twice today in the lecture, and it's raining here, and I miss you." He let a little thread of whine into his voice. "I really really miss you."

"Aw." Nick was laughing at him, JC could tell. "And I miss you too. It's only been a week, JC. I think we'll survive."

"ALL of me misses you," JC went on. The sound of Nick's voice, over the phone, sweet and pleasant even if it was kind of high, had warmed him down to his toes, which he wiggled happily now. They'd never, but maybe... "Just hearing your voice, it reminds me of how I miss you. Tell me about what we're gonna do when I get home?" He carefully unbuttoned the top of his jeans, sighing in anticipation. One of his favorite things, and finally a chance to try it out with his sexy boyfriend.

"Well, I'm workin' until nine at the parlor," Nick mused, and JC could hear the sounds of him moving around his apartment. "I was thinking maybe we could grab late dinner after that, that Italian place you like, and then maybe go hear some music? There's this band playing at Patsy's I hear's real good."

"Tell me about the sexy things," JC urged, unable to wait. It had been almost a week, after all, and he wasn't used to going without.

"Well--wait." The tone of Nick's voice changed, got tight and a little uncomfortable, and JC, always attuned to mood, took his hand off himself and sat up in bed. "JC. I'm not having phone sex with you."

"Uh." JC was floored, for a moment. "Um, okay? How come?"

"It's..." Nick sighed, voice still tight. "I just don't want to, okay?"

"Okay." There was a long, uncomfortable silence, and JC couldn't help but feel rejected. He found other things to talk about, and they ended the call with an air-kiss, but he was still frowning a little as he got ready for bed.

***  
 **Three Months Later**

"I don't understand," JC had had a few too many drinks, maybe, but he felt good and his beer bottle was great to wave around in emphasis, and his friends were listening to him, at least. "I mean, he was always on my case about selling out, being boring, you know--"

"C, you're an artist," Chris objected, carefully stepping back out of range of the bottle. JC beamed at him. He loved Chris, a lot, and if Chris hadn’t been straight, JC would’ve blown him right then and there. Since JC was single now, and all. "You make a living doing what you love, that's not selling out."

"No!" JC nodded agreement. "Like, okay, he has a point, because really I'm just designing layouts and stuff for the agency, and it's not like I'm being a rebel or anything, not like him, all fight the power and shit." He stared moodily at the bar, then jumped back to his original point. "But, but but but, wait. Um. Yes! Right! So he's all 'woohoo, I'm beating the man, no rules for me!' but he's totally boring in bed!" He dropped his beer. "Shit."

Chris picked it up, and set the empty bottle on the bar. "No more for you," he declared. "You're telling me your boyfriend was bad in bed and you're dropping perfectly good alcohol, you lush. Anyway, I thought you said you two were still friends."

"I get more beer," JC said, feeling mulish. "I can have as much as I want, my boyfriend dumped me yesterday. Or I dumped him, or something, there was definitely breaking up. We can still be friends even if he's bad in bed. Wait, he wasn't bad. He was big--" JC squinted at his blurry hands, trying to get them the right distance apart to show Chris, who was snorting laughter and trying to smack his hands down. "Stoppit. He was big, and not bad, you know, just boring. He never wanted to try anything new. We only ever did it in bed and, like, three positions max."

"Jesus, JC. Thank god I never dated you, you babbling fucker, I'd hate to think what you'd tell people about me."

"I can't date you, you're straight." JC peered at Chris, Chris with his sharp even features and sharp pretty smile and sharp quick mind. "I bet you wouldn't be boring in bed."

"Well, thank you, C, but my distaste for cock puts me right out of the running anyway," Chris reminded him kindly, and bought him another beer.

***  
 **One Month After That**

JC hated being single. Absolutely hated it, though he knew deep down it was more because he truly enjoyed regular good sex than for some deep primal need for companionship. Really, a fuck-buddy would have been perfect, but he couldn't even find one of those. Boys kept falling in love with him and he kept having to be firm with them, or else change his cell phone number, and JC didn't like doing that sort of thing, not at all. So he'd pretty much cut himself off, and he was definitely feeling the pinch. Which, he told himself firmly, had absolutely nothing to do with why he was stopping by Nick's work to drop off a couple of things he'd left at JC's place.

The little tinkly bell over the door announced his entrance, and JC rolled his eyes at the big bad tattoo parlor with the teeny weeny doorbell.

"Hey," the girl behind the counter, all tattoos and hairdye and wearing about five pounds of metal in her face, snapped her gum in his general direction. He'd never asked her name, and she'd never offered. "Nick's busy."

"Okay," he said agreeably. "I'll wait."

"He's real busy," she said, staring at him meaningfully through Tammy Faye lashes. "He could be a while."

"I'll wait," JC said, staring right back at her. "I've got some stuff for him."

"Your funeral," she shrugged and turned away, clearly losing all interest in him.

"Carla?" The voice from the back was smoky and impatient and dark, and pretty soon its owner came through the swinging doors to the back rooms, stomping along in black boots. "Motherfuckit, didn't I ask you to call that bitch, what'shername, Amy, and tell her we had a cancellation?"

"Forgot." Carla shrugged again, and went back to looking at her magazine.

"Fuck." Dark eyes swung his way, and JC was caught, helpless, as he was looked over. He knew it had to be AJ, from Nick's description, but he'd never actually met the man. He was smaller than JC'd imagined, but lean and dangerous looking, flaunting tattoos on smooth caramel skin, many piercings, and a thin sharp line of beard. As he spoke, JC caught the flash of metal in his mouth. "You here for ink, or piercing?"

JC shuddered before he could help it, at the very thought of the needles, and Carla snapped her gum. "That's Nick's ex," she said flatly. "The one Nick dumped 'cause he was too kinky."

"What?" JC jolted to his feet. "Hey! That's not true!"

"I can see that," AJ said, scanning JC's appearance with a dry little smile. JC folded his arms protectively over his striped cardigan. "Nick's busy," he went on, apparently leaving Nick's credibility out of it.

"She said," JC said, still smarting, tipping his head at Carla. "And, you know, just because Nick is boring in bed--"

"Is that my six o'clock?" Nick said brightly, coming through the door with his arm around a tall, leggy blond boy with, JC thought unkindly, horrible puffy curly hair and a tell-tale red mouth. Kissing mouth, JC thought dumbly, and then Nick saw him. "Oh, hi, JC. This is Justin, he's moving in with me tomorrow."

***  
 **Two And A Half Hours After**

"Wait," Chris said, holding up his hand. "Are you upset because Nick said you were kinky, or because AJ thought you weren't?"

"I--" JC had to think about that for a moment, pausing in his desperate search through his closet. "Both, I guess."

"You're insane, you know that?" Chris watched him dig from a perch on his bed; JC'd called him over for a coucil of war, and Chris, like the wonderful best friend he was, had come without question. "What are you looking for in there?"

"I told you, something kind of kinky but not really," JC explained, voice a little muffled by the pile of capri pants he was searching under. "I know I had leather pants in here somewhere. Or maybe I gave those away. There's got to be something." He popped his head up and regarded Chris. "I'm going to the Edge tonight, and you're coming with."

"Oh no you're not, and oh no I'm not," Chris said immediately.

"It's not just a gay bar," JC explained patiently. "There are chicks, too."

"I know that, JC, I've been there." Chris fixed him with a stern look. "And you would get eaten alive if you set one pretty little toe in the place."

"Really?" JC brightened,and Chris groaned. "We're definitely going. If I'm so kinky that people are breaking up with me for it, I should at least get something out of it, right? Explore that side of my life, or whatever. Get into some handcuffs or something. Besides these." He hastily stuffed the fuzzy purple cuffs, so nice when he was jerking off, into the duffel that also held his two dildoes, an old walkman he never used any more, and three pairs of cargo pants he never wore any more but still liked. Chris merely raised an eyebrow, then shook his head.

"Some of these people go beyond a little light bondage," Chris warned him. "There's naked people on leashes there, and more. And if you're gonna freak out about that, you probably shouldn't go, because it's just rude."

JC looked at Chris speculatively. "Wow, you really have been in there before. Tell tell."

Chris shook his head. "I, unlike some people *cough*you*cough*, do not kiss and blab."

"Okay, but you have to help me find something to wear. And come with me."

"Oh, fine. But you're paying, and this place isn't cheap."

"Fine."

"Fine."

***  
 **Just A Short Time Further Along**

"I can't believe he's moving someone in," JC groused to Chris as he dug into his wallet for forty dollars. "I mean, we dated for six months and he never suggested I move in. And it's been a month and he's got some little slut living with him already."

"Crazy old thing, life," Chris said mildly, nudging him forward in line. "Quit your bitching, you two were terrible together."

"Okay, yes, but still!" JC protested, handing the money through the window and ignoring the little shiver of excitement he got as he peered down the dark stairs into the basement club. "It's not decent, that's all," he finished, much more subdued and crowding a little closer to Chris.

"Don't freak, C," Chris said firmly, herding him down the stairs and checking their coats. "It's just normal people, they just play a little differently, is all. C'mon, let's go get a drink."

"Oh yes," JC said, nodding. "A drink sounds great." He followed Chris to the bar, peering around. "Nobody's actually naked," he whispered to Chris.

"That's why you can get a drink in here," Chris whispered loudly back, rolling his eyes. "It's not actually a sex club, C. Just a...club club, with a certain clientele."

"Oh." JC felt mildly disappointed at that, and at the lack of dungeon-y whips and chains and things around what did actually look like a regular club, if a little dark. He'd seen "Boys In Bondage," after all, in fact he owned all five in the series, and he knew what to expec- "OH," he said, in a different voice, because there was a tall man walking along, chatting to a friend, and following closely behind him was another man wearing a collar and a leash and teeny little leather shorts, and only those three things.

"Yep," Chris said, sounding cheerful again, and handing him his standard Cape Cod even as he grinned at the expression on JC's face. "Nice place, nice people, good drinks. C'mon, I'll show you around."

JC clutched his drink and followed after, grateful beyond anything that he had Chris with him. He kept his eyes wide open, not wanting to miss anything, and nodded to the few people Chris introduced him to. There were all kinds of people there, from the extreme of normalcy--two guys and two girls wearing jeans and t-shirts chatting over their drinks at a table--to the other side, a very tall lady wearing black vinyl, who had an almost-naked girl kneeling on one side of her chair and an almost-naked boy on the other, both with their hands bound behind them and both with their heads leaning on her thighs. "Wow," he said, tipping his head towards her, and Chris grinned again.

"She's something, huh? I heard she had that outfit custom-made." Chris held up his drink towards her, and she nodded back, and JC scootched a little closer to Chris's shoulder. He jumped about a mile when he felt a touch against his arm.

"You know, maybe Nick was right and you are too kinky for him," a laughing deep voice, and he swung around to see AJ standing hipslung against the bar, showing far too many teeth in a grin. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Y-yeah," JC stuttered, and waved a hand at him. "Chris, this is AJ, he works with Nick. AJ, Chris. I've never been here before, but Chris has, he's kind of showing me around the place and making sure I'm not rude or anything, since I-"

"Hey, man, pleased to meet you," Chris broke in smoothly, and shook AJ's hand. "I've seen you around."

"You too," AJ shook, tilted his head towards JC. "You with him?"

"Nope," Chris said cheerfully, "terminally straight here, I'm just moral support. In fact, I think I hear my mother calling me. Scary thought, in a place like this. C, I'll be back." With a wave, he melted into the crowd, leaving JC facing AJ and feeling like a stranded fish.

"So," AJ said, sipping his bottled water and lighting a cigarette. JC waved the smoke out of his face irritatedly.

"So?" he challenged a little, wondering why he always felt so on edge around AJ. He was just some short guy with too many tattoos and too many piercings who probably had a gigantic ego and a tiny dick.

"So, here you are. First time and all. Hope it's not on my account." AJ was still grinning. "Like what you see, so far?"

JC pulled himself together with an effort. "Well, yeah," he admitted, surprising a flash of something out of AJ's expression. "I mean, I'm not looking for, you know, a collar or anything, not that there's anything wrong with that! But not for me, I don't think, 'cause for one thing, I'm not really a bottom, at least not all the time. Like, closer to half the time. And also, crawling around, really not my thing, but you know, it's different and kind of exciting and some of it looks really sexy. And oh my god, why am I telling you all this?" He dropped his face into his hands and groaned a little, and AJ laughed, and patted his arm softly.

"Hey, no, it's cool. It's cute. Seriously. And it's good to know, too, because if I was looking for something more intense, I'd just bow out now." He eyed JC sideways. "I'm not, though."

"Ah." JC nodded and gulped his drink, feeling the slow tingle of awareness and excitement start in his belly and spread out to his fingertips. "Just, you know, for spice?"

"Exactly," AJ nodded. "Spice." He stepped a little closer and put a hand on JC's wrist and BAM, just like that, JC was hard. He grinned, surprising even himself, and relished the curl of heat in his belly, the little flutter of nerves or excitement or both that had his heart banging at his ribs.

“I’m not really sure what happens next,” he admitted, still grinning. “I mean. Y’know. Is this where I have to pick a safeword?”

AJ barked a laugh, shook his head, and leaned against JC, crowding him a little against the bar. JC sighed in delight at the weight pressing him down and holding him still, the heat inside him flared higher, and AJ’s breath caught.

”Jesus,” he said, and stubbed his cigarrette out under his boot. “Fuck, you’re pretty. No, no safeword, not for what I wanna do to you tonight.” He grinned back at JC, and those fingers stroked their way up his arm and to the inside of his elbow. “Wanna fuck till the sun comes up?”

“Oh yeah,” JC breathed, and reached out to touch AJ’s waist. “That sounds like just about the best thing I’ve ever heard. Um. Here?”

”No!” AJ was laughing again, but JC loved that laugh, the dark knowing burr of it, and he just smiled in response. “Your place or mine? Because, y’know, sooner would be better.” He nudged his hips against JC, and JC nudged back, and they both hissed through their teeth. “Oh yeah.”

”Yeah,” JC nodded, and then spotted Chris, over JC’s shoulder, and frowned. “Chris.”

”No, AJ,” AJ disagreed, pulling back a little, but then he noticed Chris and backed away entirely. “Oh, hey.”

”Hey,” Chris nodded at him, nodded at JC, and smirked wickedly. “Oh, my little boy’s all growed up.”

”Stop,” JC laughed. “Look, I’m going home with him, okay?”

”Well, I sure as shit hope so. Otherwise three would definitely be a crowd.” Chris tipped his head towards a tall, dark-haired girl, smiling at them froma few steps away. “Play nice, darling.”

“I am always nice,” JC declared loftily, then looked at AJ. “Well, not always always.”

“Thank god,” AJ muttered fervently, and started tugging him towards the door.

“Bye, Chris!” JC waved as he walked backwards. “Call me tomorrow!”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Chris yelled back, and they were gone.

***  
 **The Very Next Morning**

The sun woke JC up like it always did when he forgot to shut the curtains, and he groaned and turned over and tried to move to an unlit part of the bed. But there was something in his way, and he shoved at it irritatedly, moments before his eyes snapped open. There was a person in his bed. He knew that shoulder, he’d licked every salty-sweet inch of it last night. And that hand had been, well, it had been places that made JC very very happy. JC had traced those tattoos with his fingers and mouth, and had been nipped in return—he touched his neck wonderingly—and it had all been, well.

Not boring. But pretty kinky.

“AJ.” He shook AJ’s shoulder gently. You never knew with some people, how they’d wake up. “AJ, hey.”

“Grrmphgt,” was said to the pillow. “Sleepn.”

”No, wake up. Hey, you know what? You were right, I’m totally kinky. That was fantastic, amazing, just the coolest ever, cat, you know? Hey, do you want breakfast?”

By this point, AJ was staring at him, hair everywhere and eyes blank and bleary with sleep. “The fuck?”

”Breakfast,” JC explained patiently. He usually wasn’t so energetic in the mornings, but then, he usually hadn’t had sex like that the night before. “Food. Do you want some?”

”Coffee. And shut up now or I’ll kill you.”

“Awww.” JC leaned down and kissed the scowl, then hopped out of bed. “Coffee it is. Don’t get up.”

”OUT.”

”Okay, okay. Man, you’re cranky. Next time I’ll set the coffee timer.”

”Wait.” A hand grabbed his wrist again as he turned, and he felt that flutter again as fingers pressed on light bruises from the night before. “Next time?”

”Well, yeah.” JC grinned at AJ, and turned his hand around so their fingers were linked. “You’re coming back. Tomorrow.”

”I am?”

”Oh yeah,” JC said confidently, and leaned down to kiss him again.

“Okay,” AJ mumbled against his mouth, and pulled him back down into the bed.

*end*


End file.
